The Victorian budget has cash for health, transport, but fresh fees, work reductions, growing debt signal pain

There was not much joy in the media Victorian budget Released on Wednesday. Debt and deficits dominated the coverage.

All eyes turned to the fresh treasurer, Jaclyn Symes, to see if the work government finally provides financial discipline in its first budget.

This topic appeared at a press conference during a budget lock, when journalists began to grill the treasurer about budgetary documents. Symes managed to paste. Journalists were clearly dissatisfied with what they read and more dissatisfied with what they heard.

Yes, it is expected that the operating side of the budget will return to a tile of $ 600 million surplus. But it is almost $ 1 billion less than promised when Symes provided a budget update in December last year.

And all this infrastructure consists in paying more loans, which is a net debt of up to $ 167 billion, $ 10 billion more than last year.

And it was despite the fact that the government used $ 3.5 billion GST grants from the Nations Community, over $ 1 billion more than in the previous year.

And despite the fresh fee for fire and rescue services, it aims to provide an additional $ 600 million.

It was also despite a 22% boost in fees and fines and an boost in indefinite government fees by $ 1.3 billion. It is also based on banking $ 500 million savings from the performance review of the former prime minister and office Helen Silverwhich will not be completed by July at the earliest.

So where did this extra money go? Well, he paid for over $ 6 billion fresh services ($ 3 billion savings) and an additional $ 1.6 billion for fresh infrastructure in all wallets. It includes Free public transport For seniors on weekends and free public transport for children.

There was a great ticket point healthwhich received an additional $ 2.5 billion. This was a surprise, considering that Health advised $ 1.5 billion in last year’s budget, after the government claimed that hospitals still spent on a pandemic level and had to discover performance again.

This cut did not last long. Health services employees organized a low but effective campaign that forced the then prime minister, Jacint Allan, to Buckle. The money was returned in the December budget update.

. budget documents Show that the Victorian economy strongly results from the pandemic, and Victoria leads a nation in terms of employment. Budget documents indicate that good results will continue, despite further warnings, that all this government debt will ultimately force the economy to be fastened.

The government claims that instead of criticizing, it should be applauded for a well -done work.

During the pandemic, he spent a huge infrastructure that provided you with extremely mighty economic results. He also spent huge to protect Victoria from Covid.

It has a budget recovery plan and everything is according to the schedule. The first employment had to develop, and then we needed a surplus of cash, and now we have an operational surplus to add to it. The net debt will actually start falling next year as the last step in the long -term plan.

He also points to the balance of the state to emphasize that he has something to show for all this debt in the form of assets $ 437 billion.

Victoria is not alone in conducting budgetary surgery during a pandemic. NSW and Queensland are ecstatic Bedfells, but they are not so eye -catching because their debt level is much lower.

Victoria is also not alone as a state or provincial government, which has a huge debt. Canadian provinces are also in this situation, and Quebec and Ontario run a package.

Then there are German state governments. Their problem is not too much debt, but definitely not enough, leaving them to struggle with insufficient, as well as crumbling infrastructure caused by Constitutional debt brake It is responsible for the mess and which has recently been abolished.

Treasurer Symes provided a budget that disappointed those who wanted to fall, and the government recently showed fiscal discipline. Because the economy is still doing quite nicely and so many fresh ads that you can shine, the treasurer Symes will be pleased to disappoint.

Political calculations here are straightforward: Victorian people want services and do not worry if it is paid by debt.

Whether this is how it remains in the case of next year’s state elections in November is another question. This will be the last real chance of Syme to be more pronounced and just when the economy could provide it.